CPS Reporting
The 86th Legislature required counties to begin collecting and reporting Child Protective Services (CPS) data: “counties and courts are required to report information on court-ordered representation for appointments made in suits affecting the parent-child relationship.” See Senate Bill 560.
In Fall 2021, county auditors will begin reporting child protective services data to the Office of Court Administration (OCA) via the Texas Indigent Defense Commission’s (TIDC’s) data reporting site, which can be found here: You can find a sample reporting form here.
Reporting requirements will be phased in:
Phase 1 – Summary Reporting (FY21):
In Phase 1, counties will report total expenditures for CPS appointments and the number of CPS appointments for each court. Counties will report this data in a new section of the FY2021 Indigent Defense Expenditure Report (IDER) submitted to the Texas Indigent Defense Commission by November 1, 2021. Expenditures should be separated by the following expense categories: Attorney Fees, Investigator Fees, Social Worker Fees and Other Litigation Expenses.
Phase 2 – Detailed Reporting (FY22):
In Phase 2, counties will report the data in Phase 1, broken down by appointment type into the following categories: Custodial Parents, Non-Custodial Parents, Alleged Fathers, Unknown Fathers, Children, Adult Appeal, and Children Appeal. To assist in collecting data on appointment type, OCA has provided this CPS Private Attorney Compensation. The Phase 2 detail will be reported on the expanded IDER for FY 2022, due November 1, 2022.
OCA will be providing training in FY21 for county auditors in preparation for Phase 2 (FY22). For updates, training videos, and technical assistance please click here.